Rowand44

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 22, 2011 -> 04:12 PM) Just from their lineup, is there any spot where you can't reasonably say that they have the ability to have improved by 2 wins over last year? Mark Reynolds versus the .670 OPS they got from Tejada. Cesar Izturis to JJ Hardy would be 3 wins or more if Hardy stayed healthy the whole year. They were missing Brian Roberts for >1/2 the year last year. From Ty Wiggington to last year's Derek Lee is 2 wins, any better than that is 3+ wins. Nick Markakis was a 6 WAR player a couple years ago and a 2.8 WAR player last year. Adam Jones isn't at his ceiling yet. Matt Weiters could be anywhere. In terms of WAR, you could legitimately be starting with 10+ extra wins with no additional development from Jones, Weiters, or Markakis. Their pitching still sucks though. Gotta admit that they did one hell of a job improving their lineup, but there's no chance they're competing for a playoff spot just yet.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jan 22, 2011 -> 05:16 PM) lol haha awesome.

I expect him to absolutely murder the baseball this year.

How the hell did I not know that Rex Ryan went to my high school?

Needed to be done. Give him some time and I really see no reason why he can't be decent in the outfield.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 05:31 PM) Oz's lineup: Pierre, beckham, Dunn, PK, rios, AJ, Quentin, Ramirez, morel/teahen - Doug Padilla Thought for sure Alexei would bat 2nd to not put to much pressure on Becks. Gotta admit though besides the /Teahen, I have no complaints there.

QUOTE (Felix @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 05:30 PM) Boozer isn't durable? Say it ain't so! Which we obviously all knew coming in. Who gives a crap though, as long as he's here and healthy for the playoffs than we'll all be happy.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 05:17 PM) I think they can. What does Bosh provide for them? Scoring that they can already get from two other players? Rebounding and scoring for sure. That team is just garbage outside of the big 3. You take any of those 3 off the roster and they have 0 shot to win it all.

QUOTE (shipps @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 03:40 PM) I slipped and fell on a pea in AuBonPan today. Very embarrassing. I single frickin pea. Hahahaha, awesome. I managed to fall down my f'n stairs today, almost cracked the back of my head open, which would have went nicely with the giant scar I have on my forehead.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 05:10 PM) Now, if they want to let Ozzie go after 2011, they can without questions and just pay him for 2012. Well that just makes 0 sense.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 04:58 PM) perhaps the 1st half was just a sophomore slump.... And to be honest, I think most of us believe that to be the case, however, he still needs to prove that to be the fact and produce for a full season.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 06:00 PM) They have two perimeter players who are awesome defensively and can cover so much ground. Also, when they cheat on defense, they can recover better than most because of that size, speed, and athleticism. That's why I really don't see them not winning the championship. They honestly don't even need Bosh. I really don't think he adds much to that team. They're no doubt the front runners imo to win it all but there's no chance they'd win it with out Bosh.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 05:02 PM) They were trying to sell tickets all of the way up until today. I don't think they made it. Do you remember how much it used to cost before they switched hotels? I really do miss being able to go to Soxfest, it really was a blast.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 05:54 PM) Wait a minute. I never compared the Heat and Jazz. I compared the Bulls to the Jazz. People can hate on the Heat all they want. But they've got two of the top 5 players in the game and another top 10 player in the game. They are special. You misread the site. They have the Bulls listed wayyyy above everyone else, not the Heat when it comes to defense. EDIT: You were looking at the overall rankings, not the defensive ones J4L.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 04:37 PM) He also had a .939 ops in the 2nd half Which is absolutely fantastic. He needs to put a full season together though, the fact that he put up a sub .700 ops despite being at .939 for the 2nd half of the year just goes to show you how brutal he was in the first half of last season. There's no doubt that he still needs to prove himself.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 04:28 PM) Skip Bayless picked the Bears. So not everyone is against you. I don't think anyone in the world wants Skip Bayless on their side though. That being said, there have definitely been some analysts the last few days who are starting to sway towards the Bears a bit.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 05:16 PM) you mean the gordon beckham who hit .326 the 2nd half has to prove himself??? My memory fails me, when was he hurt?? The Gordon Beckham who had a sub .700 ops for the season has to prove himself.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 02:26 PM) It's definitely fluff. Guys like Peavy and Beckham are going to have to prove it this year. I don't care what Coop, Ozzie say or about how good certain guys look in Camp Cora. Absolutely.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 02:52 PM) This seems to be a popular response whenever somebody questions the legitimacy of the Bulls being actual contenders. And I can agree to a certain extent. But honestly, even if healthy, our we any better than the Utah Jazz of the last four years? Rose is Deron. Boozer is, well, Boozer. Noah is Millsap. Then they've had quality players in Okur, AK47, Brewer and Korver. Yet they've never been able to hang with the big boys. Be it the Spurs or the Lakers. We need another impact player to contend with the likes of the Heat, Celtics and probably the Magic. I think it's 50/50 if we even played a team like the Hawks. IMO, there's a mammoth difference between winning 50-55 games and being a true title contender. For one, Millsap and Noah is not a good comparison but most importantly, the Bulls are about a million times better defensive team than those Jazz teams and once again that's with out having their best defender for a good part of the season now. And while Deron is a tremendous player, Rose is more of a guy that can just put a team on his shoulders and carry you if he needs to imo. It's obviously a wait and see approach since we haven't been healthy all year but I'll continue to state that I really believe some of you guys are underselling this team quite a bit.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 02:54 PM) Pretty sad that Soxfest starts tonight and it makes zero news, even on Soxtalk. We used to have soxtalk gatherings all the time at soxfest, they than switched hotels and poof, game over.

I'll say the Packers win something like 21-17. EDIT: BTW, I've pretty much been completely wrong on the NFC side of the playoffs, so there's your blessing, Bears fans!

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 08:28 AM) This, people, is why some have been advocating trading Danks. Thing is, we trade him right now and any World Series chance we have goes right out the window. Personally, I'll take the 2 years of Danks+the draft picks over the alternative at the moment.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 06:00 AM) Don't think I don't know Anthony is the better player, but for as much as Deng gets blasted, it would be nice if once in a while, some people realize he really isn't the stiff he's portrayed to be. It's the contract that makes everyone jump down Luol's throat. He's still a bit too inconsistent of an offensive player for my liking but he's a very good defensive player and when he decides to show up offensively, the Bulls are tough to beat.

WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!! Actually, that sounds pretty badass.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jan 20, 2011 -> 03:52 PM) Looks like the cast for a Saturday Morning live action adaptation. Also, I'm gonna need a better pic of January Jones in that outfit, please. Yes... ...and yes